Project1_Layout 1 06/07/2015 07:34 Page 1 ISSUE 18 Prosthetic Apes with Sam Maronie! Digital Apes with Nick Thurston! Comic Strip Apes with Boom! and IDW! Plus all the shameless self-indulgence NONO BULL!BULL! you’ve come to expect from the THE UK’s No1 POTA Fanzine! THE POLAR BROTHERS ARE BACK! contents_co 06/07/2015 07:36 Page 1 SIMIAN SCROLLS Issue 18 IS RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED TO THE MEMORY OF BOOTH COLMAN 1923-2014 CONTENTS 3. A Farewell to Booth Colman - by Jeff Kruger 5. Interview with Alex Irvine 7. Greg Keyes Interview 10. The Art of Focus - with Nick Thurston 13. Team Me Up Scotty - with Scott Tipton 15. Rachael Stott interview 18. When Sammy Met Roddy - Sam Maronie 22. Interview with Geoffrey Deuel - Dean Preston 24. Bobby Porter Interview - Dean Preston 29. TV Series CD Review - Alan Maxwell 31. Michael Moreci Interview 33. Make do and Mend - with Dan McDaid 35. Apes Live with Mike McCarthy 41. Adami of the Apes 44. Ape Market Simian Scrolls is entirely not for profit and is purely a tribute to and review of all things Planet of the Apes. Simian Scrolls has no connection whatsoever with 20th Century Fox Corporation, APJAC Productions, CBS,Titan, BOOM Entertainment Inc, IDW Publishing nor any successor entities thereof and does not assert any connection therewith. Images are reproduced solely for review purposes and the rights of individual copyright owners for images are expressly recognised. All Copyright and Trademarks are acknowledged and respected by this publication and no ownership/rights thereover are claimed by this publication. Original art and writing is copyright of the individual artists and writers. Simian Scrolls is edited by Dave Ballard, Alan Maxwell, Dean Preston and John Roche and is designed by a team of monkeys. Simian Scrolls is published and distributed by John Roche--email: [email protected] Planet of the Apes copyright 1967-2015 Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation All rights reserved Star Trek copyright 2015 Paramount Pictures Corporation TRIBUTE_Layout 1 06/07/2015 07:39 Page 1 Simian Scrolls ISSUE 18 P.3 The voice of authority - A farewell to Booth Colman by Jeff Kruger voice I knew so well from childhood. My favourite Booth memory is interviewing him on his 83rd birthday for "Simian Scrolls". My second favourite is seeing him at the private 30th anniversary POTA party at the Motion Picture Academy in 1998. The party was scheduled after a screening of the original "Apes" movie and Booth decided he had to get up too early to stick around. He offered me his ticket but since I didn't need it he asked me to send it to Brazilian fan Saulo Adami as a keepsake. It was a thoughtful gesture. Some might have considered it trash but Booth understood the love of movies and the joys of collecting. He had a prized roll call of 22 U.S. presidential signatures. Booth lived a long life and spent most of it in a vocation he loved (we should all be so lucky). He was born March 8, 1923 in Portland, Oregon (43 years to the day before the first Zaius, Edward G. Robinson, would film a famous makeup test). Booth fell into acting as a child, playing the title role in a local version of "David Copperfield" (1932). That led to some stage work at Portland's Civic Theater Group. Acting became part of his life, though not an obvious career choice. He considered becoming an archaeologist (what would Dr. Zaius say?!) but was asked to concentrate on oriental studies Hamlet: "O God, I could be bounded in a nutshell and and languages to help the war effort. The U.S. Army stationed count myself a king of infinite space, were it not that I him in New York and his acting career started there. He soon have bad dreams". got an agent and made his Broadway debut in "The Assassin" Guildenstern: "Which dreams indeed are ambition; for (1945) as understudy and in two small roles. That brought the very substance of the ambitious is merely the shadow him to the attention of Maurice Evans, who cast Booth in his of a dream". theater company's production of "Hamlet" (1946). This was "Hamlet", Act 2, Scene 2 Evans' famed "G.I. Hamlet", a contemporary "man of action" version he had honed while performing it for the soldiers in the war. Maurice played the title role while Booth supported This planet lost one of my favourite primates when veteran as Guildenstern (of "Rosencratz and ..." fame). He also actor Booth Colman passed away on December 15, 2014 understudied Laertes. The play had a long run of Zaius on (reportedly in his sleep). Zaius action. It also resulted in Booth narrating "Romeo and Juliet" for radio, starring Evans and Helen Hayes (Textron Booth spent most of his almost 92 years in roles both big Theater, 3/2/46). and small. Unfortunately, the only thing that seems to matter to posterity are filmed performances which can be shared Booth continued in New York theater the next few years, by all. Booth was a working character actor who never got including Noel Coward's "Tonight At 8:30" (1948); "Now I THE role that would widen his choices. His meatiest roles Lay Me Down To Sleep" starring Frederic March (1950); and were on stage. His voice and demeanor made him ideal for "The Winslow Boy" starring Basil Rathbone (1951). "authority figures" and certainly the most unique of those was, Chief Councilor Zaius. One of the backers of "Hamlet" was horror movie legend Boris Karloff, who befriended Booth and would provide him I think it's fair to say that Zaius is the role he's most with two of his best filmed roles when Booth began remembered for and he seemed OK with that. I met Booth performing in front of cameras in the 1950s. Booth did a in 1996 when he was kind enough to participate in some screen test for Howard Hawks that got him an uncredited book signings for author Eric Greene ("Planet of the Apes As role in "The Big Sky" (1952) starring Kirk Douglas. When it American Myth"). Booth told me he hadn't been to an Ape came to movies, "uncredited" was Booth's middle name in event before but he enjoyed meeting the fans and that the early '50s (even as a reporter in the sci-fi classic started almost two decades of meet and greets. After his "Them!"). Booth's first movie credit was for "The Human long career it was nice for him to see he had an impact on a Jungle" (1954), which sounds like a good title for an "Apes" generation of fans. He especially enjoyed the excuse it gave story but is actually an urban crime drama. He had better to travel. luck in TV with all the anthology shows of the era, perfect Booth and I became casual friends over the years, catching for a stage actor. He even got to play Napoleon for "Schlitz up at events or occasional meals at Cheng Du in Los Angeles. Playhouse" (7/2/54) and appeared with James Dean in "Lux It was always a thrill to get a call or message from him in that Video Theater" (3/10/55). TRIBUTE_Layout 1 06/07/2015 07:39 Page 2 Simian Scrolls ISSUE 18 P.4 As a stage actor, on TV and in the movies, Booth's career officer); "The Monkees" (a CIA-type chief); "I Dream of had begun. Obviously for a career blessed with many Jeannie" (a general); "The Flying Nun" (a priest, a bishop); "My decades, Booth's credits are a mile long. Most of his Name Is Earl" (a scientist, in an episode called "Monkeys In appearances were bit parts and roles in lower quality Space"). productions and though Booth was happy to be working it didn’t mean he had the best luck. But some TV is more equal than others, which brings us to "Planet of the Apes". The show put a nice spin on Booth's The stage was his true love. He had a great relationship patented authority figure, being an ape and all. Even more with the Meadow Brook Theater in Rochester, Michigan. confusing, Booth had played his share of doctors but Zaius Among Booth's stage productions were "The Andersonville wasn't one of them. Booth was no fan of the makeup but Trial", which he performed in 1961, 1971 and 1989; "Inherit would've gladly worn it for years if it meant a steady gig. Sadly, The Wind" (about the famous 1925 Scopes Monkey Trial), as we know, that wasn't to be. The show was short-lived, and 1974 and 1990; "Death of a Salesman"; "The Merchant of though Booth was part of the regular cast, he only did six Venice"; "A Man For All Seasons"; and to the delight of the episodes. Bringing it full circle, Booth wore his old boss local folk, Scrooge in "A Christmas Carol", which he Maurice Evans' outfit (what did he expect, an ape's new suit?) peformed at Christmas for nineteen years starting in 1982 and claimed to have found an old Lotto ticket inside that he (under the direction of Terry Kilburn, who played Tiny Tim in sent back to its former owner. the 1938 movie and was one of Roddy McDowall's childhood acting rivals). Booth did quite a bit of science fiction; Besides "Apes", "World Without End" and "Them!", there was "The Outer In regard to his filmed work there are some productions Limits" (a doctor); "Voyage To the Bottom of the Sea" (a in particular that Booth watchers might look for.